Prep Rally

It's hard to tell what's more impressive about this highlight from the MTC Sports Network: the fact McCutcheon (Lafayette, Ind.) High sophomore guard Gabrielle Gary sunk the miracle shot or how calmly she reacted to it.

With 1:15 remaining in the first quarter of a victory against Jefferson (Lafayette, Ind.) High, Gary tracked down a long rebound in the corner, grabbed the basketball one-handed as she careened toward a sea of cheerleaders, hurled her right arm around her 5-foot-5 frame and watched the ball rattle around the rim until falling through the hoop.

Here's the best part: As onlookers reacted like most people should, screaming "Ohhhhhh" at the top of their lungs, Gary acted as if this 3-pointer was just like any other, sprinting back to the top of a 2-3 zone defense.

Maybe it's because the miracle shot was Gary's fourth of five straight triples to start the game. She finished 7-of-9 from beyond the arc and scored a career-high 24 points, according to Lafayette's Journal and Courier. Or maybe it's because her father, Purdue University assistant men's basketball coach Glen Gary, taught her to act like she's been there before. Only nobody but Isaiah Rider may have ever been there before.

When the former Minnesota Timberwolves guard sunk a similar shot in 1994, he high-fived and fist-pumped his way up the floor, as he should have.

Gary's postgame reaction in the local paper was similarly cool: "I looked up (after the first quarter) and said, 'That's more than I average.' As the game went on, I was just feeling it."

You think?

So, leave it to Lafayette backcourt mate Kerstyn Lowery to sum up what everybody else in attendance must have been thinking: "I was on the bench, and I was speechless."